Sunderland want David O'Leary to be their new manager after they sacked Peter Reid last night. It is understood they are now waiting to hear from the 44-year-old Dubliner, and it will be a surprise if he turns the job down.

"I'm gutted for Peter," O'Leary said last night, "but I'm an out-of-work manager and I'm happy to talk to anyone."

The belief is that some talking has occurred already, though if O'Leary did refuse Sunderland's offer then the Republic of Ireland manager Mick McCarthy would be a viable alternative.

O'Leary has yet to reach agreement over compensation for his sacking by Leeds United four months ago, but though this is a complicating factor it is not an insurmountable one.

The appeal for O'Leary is that Sunderland are a big club, drawing the third-biggest crowds in England, and he would not have to move from his home in Harrogate, north Yorkshire. But he would also relish the challenge of taking on Newcastle United.

He may doubt whether he can keep a side so clearly lacking in spirit and confidence in the Premiership. Overseeing a relegation would be a blot on his CV from which he may think he could not recover.

With the transfer window shut until January, O'Leary would have to work with the players already at the Stadium of Light, and whether money would then become available to strengthen the squad is debatable, with Reid having spent £22 million in the past year.

Nine of the Sunderland team meekly beaten by Newcastle 17 days ago were bought in that period by Reid. Sunderland rallied to defeat Aston Villa the following week, but Sunday's capitulation against Arsenal at Highbury made his position untenable.

Given that Sunderland also dismissed Reid's assistant, Adrian Heath, yesterday, as well as three other members of Reid's back-room staff, O'Leary would be in a position to appoint his own staff, but his preferred coach, Brian Kidd, remains at Leeds and may not want to move from his Manchester home.

As of last night O'Leary's former room-mate with Arsenal and the Republic of Ireland, Niall Quinn, was in temporary charge. But Quinn has no official coaching qualifications and now has to ponder whether he would want to be part of O'Leary's set-up. Quinn was in London last night launching his autobiography.

Reid, meanwhile, was at home pondering the end of a seven-year association with Sunderland in which he took them to seventh in the Premiership, their highest for half a century.

But their record since the beginning of 2002 has been meagre - five wins in 27 Premiership matches - and reached rock bottom when he publicly questioned his players' commitment after the defeat at Newcastle.

The Sunderland chairman, Bob Murray, clearly felt that the break for international matches was the moment to make a change.

"It should hopefully mean that there will be as little disruption to the players as possible," he said last night before praising Reid.

"Sunderland is totally unrecognisable now to when Peter Reid walked through the door at Roker Park in 1995 . . . but the club must always come first. Nearly a quarter of the season has gone and we are at the wrong end of the table and can't wait any longer for performances to improve. Whilst I know that recent months have been difficult, that should not cloud people's judgment to the many positive things Peter has achieved for this club.

"We will be appointing a successor as quickly as possible and hope to have someone in place before our next league game. Most importantly we are looking for someone we believe can improve our position in the short term and secure our Premier League status."